True Hearts
by Yamada Mikazuki
Summary: Cloud Strife is a vampyre enrolled in ShinRa who has a complicated life due to his relationship with a human named Zack. But when the evil decides to take a step in, can they stay together or maybe even stay alive?
1. Prologue

True Hearts

Intro: Cloud P.O.V.

"Why did I have to come here?" I muttered to myself. Oh wait, that's right. I thought that maybe if I came here I could prove myself to everyone else at home. Or maybe so I could impress my first crush, Tifa Lockhart. No, I was just trying to fool myself from what I really am. Oh! Hello, I don't think we have ever officially met. I'm Cloud Strife, and I'm a vampyre.

Now no, I'm not the vampire your thinking of, with all the super long fangs and red eyes. And no I do not sleep in a coffin or wear a cape like Dracula. If you really want to get a image of what I look like let me help you. Okay, now take everything you know about vampires and wipe it out of your mind. It's all myths and Hollywood trash. Even the Twilight Saga. Get it out of your mind right now! Good, I'm a male teenager, with gravity defying, spiky, blond hair. My eyes are sapphire blue and I'm pale. The only facial detail that fiction got right.

I'm not built, if anything it looks like I've never been near a gym in my entire life. If you did guess that your half right, I never have been near a gym in my life. More of a P.E.C.P., Physical Elemental Control Program. You see, a small hand full of vampyres can control one of the four elements, air, fire, water, and earth. I'm gonna try to explain this as best as I can to you guys as best as I can though. Like in those stupid movies that you guys actually pay to see. You know, like when they 'supposedly' start water bending or fire bending or whatever element they use it's kinda like that.

Now let me answer some of those myth questions you might be having. Number one, no I do not sparkle, burn, disintegrate. Or anything like that. It is just merely uncomfortable because vampyres eyes are not built for sunlight. Kind of like how your human eyes aren't built for the dark. Everything's kind of fuzzy right? Well that's what it looks like in day time to vampyres.

Few more things to tell. The reason I spell vampyres like that is because it sets us apart from the rest of the fake movie and fiction book ones. It still pronounced the same though. This should be all that you humans need to know for now. I'll go into more detail as this story goes on.

So now that you know everything lets start over. Hi, I'm Cloud Strife. And within these pages you will find about how I grew up, my family, encounters with the life I never knew existed. Oh yeah! I almost forgot to tell you guys, this story revolves around the relationship with a vampyre and a human. Or should I say 'my' relationship with a human. And no, this was not an easy relationship as you usually expect to find in a love story. I can pretty much guarantee that you will not find a story like this anywhere else. 

This relationship tested my mental powers to the limit. Over tested my emotions. And most of all tested my ability to trust outsiders. Which almost resulted in us losing each other forever. And you still may be asking, 'Well, will I find this interesting at all? Should I even be reading this? Is this for vampyres only?' well I give a big fat no to all of those questions. I wrote this because I want this story to never die. Or maybe, just maybe, it's because I'm meant to die tonight. Well, anyway this is my book and my story please don't let it die.

AN: Okay I know that was pretty short, but it was really just to get you all caught up on the details so that you weren't confused out of your mind when I started typing the story. And also for some of you people that have read the AMAZING House Of Night Series, you will notice that it is kind of like that. And I know this. I just twisted it around a bit. And maybe because I like her version of vampyres better. But don't get me wrong I still like stephanie's work she's amazing. Especially, her book called 'The Host' if you haven't read it I highly recommend you do I know it's kind of thick, but just give it a chance. O_O. So yeah this is only my second story, but I would love some pointers on what I could do to improve it later on though. Then next update should be sometime next week. Bye! XD


	2. One To Add To The List

Ch. 1: Cloud's P.O.V.

"Get off me!" I yell. Jay, or as I like to call him the guy who made my life living hell, just smirked and kept punching me. "Now why would I want to do that Strife?" he said in taunting voice. Oh Gaia, how I hate that voice. Right now he had me pinned to the ground and was using me as a punching bag. That is until he started choking me. I was so concerned on getting him off of me that I didn't see his hands starting to go for my throat. So I never even had time to catch my breath. Hell, I was exhaling when he started choking me, so that left me with no air at all. Luckily, I grew up in the country so you know a few tricks to get a person off you. Unfortunately, there was no way that I could access my hands because his knees were on them, with his feet on my thighs so I couldn't move my legs.

Why me? Why couldn't he just leave me alone like everyone else. What was so special about me that he just had to torture me. As these thoughts were circling around like a tornado in my head, I was just about to give up on all hopes of getting away when I saw the smallest opening. He had just moved his leg the slightest bit. That's when I felt it. I could access my legs! Apparently he noticed too because he had started to correct his mistake, but he was a second too late. I had already started moving my leg and I kneed him in stomach. 

"Ah!" he screamed. I could see the tears starting to pool in his eyes, but after what this man had did to me I had no room left for even the tiniest shred of sympathy for him. So I did next what any normal person would do I ran. And not at normal speed. Vampyres don't go like super slow like humans. Take like the fifth fastest human in the world and times that by like 1.5., that's like the average speed of a vampyre. Not even to mention the fastest vampyre, but because I was so focused on getting to my room I didn't notice the raven haired soldier watching me. Nor did I notice when he started to follow me. Well, I should say tried to follow me. Even with all the mako in their systems they still aren't fast enough to catch up to a vampyre. "Hey!" I heard him call out. 'Shit!' I thought. Did he see me running? Oh, I prayed to Gaia he didn't.

I slowed down, but kept my face turned away so he wouldn't be able to recognize me later. "Hey, you were running pretty fast back there," he said. I tensed. He was closer than I thought he would be. He must have noticed because his tone was softer the next time, "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I'm Zack." "Cloud," I said after I knew that he would not be a threat. Slowly, I turned my head so that I could see his face, but he still couldn't see mine.

Zack had black hair that spiked up a lot in the back. He was pretty well built for a soldier, but the thing that caught my attention was his eyes. They were purple and slightly glowing in the moonlight. "Well Cloud, you seemed pretty scared back there. Did you see something that-" he stopped when I turned my face toward him so that he could finally see my face. I heard him gasp. Which I hoped meant that I didn't have to explain what happened to me. The last thing I wanted was to seem weak. "What happened?" he whispered. I knew that I must look pretty bad considering the fact that I had bruises all over my body, small cuts on my face, not to mention the big gashing wound on my side just below my ribcage. And there I was just standing there in my blood soaked clothes, looking like I just got back from a war.

"I'd rather not explain, but... I'm sure you can piece it together if you think really hard," I said in a low tone. "Well then let me ask a different question. 'Who' did this?" he said still whispering. "I... didn't see his face," I lied. The last thing I wanted was to give Jay a reason to hurt me even more. "Well do you know why anyone might want to do this to you?" he said murmured.

"I don't know. It might be because I beat him in training today. Or maybe the fact that he just doesn't like me," I said just wishing he would stop talking about it. "Well, can... can you please... tell me the next time it happens?" his sadness evident in his voice. "I.. sure," I replied. He gave a small smile at this. "Thanks. Um, do you need to go to the infirmary. Or you could just come to my apartment to get cleaned up. You don't have any broken bones do you?" He started rushing. I laughed at this, but then I remembered. If I go to the infirmary they'll most likely discover the my secret. But if I don't do anything Zack will surely get suspicious. Well, Zack didn't look like a very doctor type of person. Maybe if I take him up on his offer he won't get suspicious.

"Um, can I just go with you possibly?" I said so quietly it almost shocked me that he could hear. "Sure! This way." he practically cheered. When he said this his whole face practically lit up into a huge smile. 

He led the way back to the elevator that I had run by in my haste. Once inside he pressed the 69th floor button. Wow he must be pretty high up in the ranks I thought. Then it dawned on me. The glowing mako eyes, the uniform, the floor number. He was Zack the 1st class soldier, second in command to Sephiroth, but I didn't have much time to react though because soon we were off the elevator and in front of a door. While he was unlocking the door that's when the smell finally hit me. I must have noticed the smell of his blood because it was masked by the overwhelming scent of mine.

I could feel my throat closing up as well as my self-control that was slipping by at an alarming rate. Now don't get me wrong I have good self-control, but when you have to starve your self for a year I wouldn't be the only one complaining. Not to mention I was 'losing' blood right now.

Anyways I know how to handle things like this. I started to just focus on the smell of something else anything else. Finally, no matter how nauseating, I started to drown out the smell of Zack's blood and focused on mine. "Here we are Spiky," he said. Spiky? Guess it was a nickname for me. He opened the door to reveal a decently sized apartment with a living room connected to the kitchen. And to the left of that I could see what I'm guessing to be a bedroom. The rest was hidden down the hallway though.

"Here, um... why don't you go sit on the couch in the living room and I'll be back with the first aid kit," he started rushing out again. I only nod and go to the living room to sit on the couch as told. A few minutes later he comes back holding a small black box a little smaller than a briefcase. "Thank you," I say. "For what?" he asks. At this point he had started to get a wet cloth and dab at my wounds.

"For caring enough to help me," I say. "Why? Does no one else care about you?" he said in a kind of a joking voice, but slightly serious. "No one at home had a shred of sympathy for me except my family," I say without thinking. I laugh bitterly. I don't know what it is about him, but maybe it might be the comfortable atmosphere he gives off. Either way I need to stop giving out too much information unless I want to blow my cover.

This wipes the smile right off of Zack's face. "Well," he swallows, "your not there anymore and you have another person to add to that caring list." "Th-thanks," I stutter. I swear I can almost see tears swelling in his eyes. This is confirmed when I see one silver tear break free of their prison in his eyes. "Hey, are you okay?" I say in a worried voice.

"Yeah," he says. I see him try to smile, but it crumples just as fast as he placed it there. "Well.. no not really. It's just so sad to think that you had no one to rely on as soon as you would take a step into the real world, but someone is better than no one right?" he said obviously trying to cheer himself up as more tears fell. "Hey come here," I said. I put one arm around his torso while the other was around his neck running my fingers through his raven hair. Soon after I do this he wraps his arms around me and starts to finally let all the tears fall. "Shh,shh. It's okay," I cooed repeatedly trying to calm him. My back was starting to cramp up so I lie us down. Soon he falls asleep and I can hear his even breathing. I start to worry about class, but then I remember that it's Friday. After realizing this I relax and fall asleep to the sound of his breathing.

AN: I know it's short, but I just wanted to get the story started. But yeah from now on they'll probably only be just weekly updates. Review please! XD


	3. The Secret

Ch. 2 Cloud's P.O.V.

My dream consisted of a full moon, with my family. We were all in a field within a circle of fire. They were staring at me with horrified eyes, looking at something at my feet. Concerned at what could make them so scared I quickly looked down only to wish immediately that I hadn't.

I was standing on a pile of dead bodies. They were all drained of their blood. With the only evidence of how being the small bite marks on their necks. I looked back at my family. They were slowly backing away from me, the terrified look not fading.

I tried to take a step towards them, but the more I did the faster they started backing away. Soon they were right next to the flames.

"Look out!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, which proving to be difficult with all the smoke surrounding us. But I was too late, they took a step back and the next thing I knew the were engulfed by flames. "MOM! ROXAS!" I screamed.

Then I felt a shaking on my shoulder I turned around to see who it was, but to only be greeted by a long trail of dead, cold, empty bodies. I felt the same shaking again, and started see white cloud up in my vision.

"Cloud! Cloud!" I heard a voice shouting. My eyes snapped open. I scanned the room and relaxed when there were no flames, no dead bodies. "Cloud, are you okay?" He said in a scared tone. "Zack!" I cheered and hugged him.

I felt his arms wrap around me hesitantly. I breathed in his scent. Not even his blood could effect me right now. I felt him start doing what I had done to him last night. I started to relax even more. The fingers running threw my hair was really comforting.

"Have a bad dream there?" he asked obviously still worried. I only nodded my head not trusting my voice enough yet.

"Do you want to talk bout it?" he said calmer tone. "N-not really," I stuttered. "Okay. That's fine," he said. I could feel Zack rest his head on top of mine. We stayed like that for a few minutes. Just enjoying each others presence.

Then it started to fall into place most people that had only knew each other for 11 hours didn't do this, but strangely it didn't bother me.

Just as I was about to move, no matter how much I really didn't want to, Zack's stomach growled. I laughed. "Hungry?" I asked. "A little," he laughed along.

"Come on I should probably get back to my room to check mail," I said. It was strange the more time I spent around him the more comfortable I got.

"Aw," he whined, "Can't you just stay here for breakfast? It gets lonely around here." "I guess I could, but your sure that you won't get into trouble?"

"Yeah, you'll be fine. Come on Chocobo!" Chocobo? Where was he getting all these nicknames? "Chocobo?" I asked. "Yeah! Because your hair kinda looks like a chocobo. You don't mind do you?" he said. "No, not really," I said, "Do you usually give out nicknames this much?" "Not too much. Just to friends," he said cheerly.

By now he had already started to crack eggs into a pan. I looked to the side of him and also saw that he had already put toast inside the toaster, but the thing that really stuck out wasn't anything in the kitchen. It was something that he said.

"Friends?" I said puzzled. Did he already think of me as a friend through out the short time that we had known each other? "Well yeah, I like you and you seem like a nice guy so I think we could be friends," he explained.

"You like me right?" he looked up from the pan finally and looked at me. I could see the hope shimmering behind those lavender eyes. "Yeah, your nicer than the rest of the people here," I chose my words wisely. He smiled at that. I smiled back. Then I started to smell smoke again. "Zack? Is something burning?" I asked. "Huh?" he said then he turned around. "Shit, the toast! He practically yelled.

I flat out laughed at his forgetfulness for a moment. By the time he got the toast out it was black, then I noticed his fingertips were bright red. "Zack!" I said. "What? What's burning?" he said frantically looking around the room. "Your hands," I laugh out. "Oh, ow," he said the pain starting to become evident in his voice.

"Late reaction?" I laugh, "Here let me see." he holds out his hands. It's nothing major, just a small burn. "What did you do? Shove your hands inside the toaster?" I can't stop laughing. "Psh... no... maybe.. okay fine yes!"

"You know Zack, they just came out with this wonderful new invention. It's a button you can push to make the toast pop out of the toaster!" I said my voice thick with sarcasm. We both burst out laughing. It takes us a few minutes to calm down. I think I'm really starting to like Zack. I don't care what it is, but I'm really thankful.

You see when your a vampyre you don't really get to get out too much. One as I told you before the sun isn't too comfortable. And two, well this one is pretty long so just lay back cause it's kind of hard to explain.

Okay, really we start out human like you guys. Then between our 8 through 11 years of age we wait and see if we get chosen. If we do we start a process as a fledgling, to show this we get a black outline of a crescent moon on our forehead. If we do not get chosen then we just continue our lives as a human.

Once in the fledgling process of becoming a full vampyre, they test us to see if we have any elemental controls. Remember the P.E.C.P.? We spend a month in that facility training in a spiritual environment.

If we do have elemental controls stay another two months to learn how to control them wisely and to protect ourselves. Though the majority of fledglings don't have elemental controls so they will just get sent home to see if they have the strength to become a vampyre.

Now when we get chosen we don't really get too excited. You see when we say to have the physical strength, we mea to see if your body can handle the change.

Unfortunately, most of the bodies aren't and they end up dying a painful, but short death choking on their own blood. You see only about 1,000,000 humans are picked to become fledglings each year. And three fourths of them end up rejecting the change. Leaving us with about 250,000 vampyres. Not even including how many vampyres die that year.

So you see we are not a very big race in the world. Our secret concealed, even some of your most famous people were vampyres. Fortunately, I made it through the change. I even have three of the elemental abilities! I have air, water, and earth. My whole family are vampyres so far. The only undecided one we have is my little brother Roxas.

Well, the only reason we're so good at concealing our secret is because at our will we can make our marks not become visible to the human eye when we choose. They will always be visible to the vampyre eye though just as we will always be a vampyre. Mark or not.

So you can see why I am so thankful for Zack right now. The only 'friend' I had was my brother Roxas, but not anymore I'd stop moping over the past and try to start living in the present while I was here.

"Hey, you should get burn cream on those," I say snapping out of my thoughts. "No I'm good!" he laughed, "See the mako is already healing them." Sure enough when I look at his fingers I see a green substance patching together the skin. "Oh," I say lamely.

"But I see your wounds are healed. How did..?" he trailed off. My eyes widen. I look down at my wounds, or should what used to be my wounds. All that was left now was a faint pink line.

'Shit!' I though this was not good. I may like Zack, but that didn't mean to the point that I would tell him my secret!. Maybe if I distract him he will just drop it. I look around for something, anything, but sadly find nothing. Even he had turned off the stove with the eggs on it once he made his discoverey.

"Um... fast healer?" I say hopefully helping that he would believe me. Unfortunately, he doesn't as I see the doubt fill his lavender eyes.

"Cloud, what aren't you telling me?" he says hesitantly, "I'm not going to tell anyone if you don't want me to." It so tempting to tell him, but if I do the council will walk all up and down my ass about it. But what if he really promises to not tell anyone. He doesn't seem like the type to go out spilling peoples secrets.

"If I do... you'll just think... I'm crazy or try... to k-kill me," I murmur. I almost regret my words when I see the doubt in his eyes be replaced by hurt and sorrow.

I tense when I see his arms reach out towards me, but then he surprises me by pulling me into a tight embrace.

"Chocobo, I couldn't possibly care less what you are." he explains, "Your Cloud. Human or whatever you might be.

My heart warms at his words. I think maybe if I tell him the slightest bit he'll might be able to handle it.

"Promise? Because I'm not supposed to tell anyone this. And if you do tell anyone the council will come to execute me slowly and painfully." I tell him the seriousness thick in my voice. "Along with you and anyone else you might have told. Except I think they might have better uses for you both." I laugh dryly at my sad attempt at humor.

"Promise. I. Will. Not. Tell. Anyone. If you don't want me to," his voice sincere.

"Are you sure? Because telling anyone is a straight ticket to death," my voice not wavering. "Yes, I promise," he says.

Doubt must be in my eyes because what he does next surprises me more then when I found out when I and everyone else in my family was a vampyre.

He pulls back from the embrace and looks deep into my eyes. "I mean it," he says. Then he tilts his head to the side and starts to lean forward.

Is he going to kiss me! We had just met! I didn't think you could like a person so much in such a short amount of time, but I realize all of this a second too late because the next thing I know is that his lips are pressed onto mine softly.

And what I did next I don't even know why, but then I start to kiss him back. He became ecstatic at this and slowly rest his hands on my hips.

In response my arms wrapped around his neck and started to add a little more pressure to the kiss. Our lips are moving in sync slowly, like lava across a flat surface. For how long we stayed like that I couldn't say, but I was brought back to reality when I felt his tongue swipe across my bottom lip.

I pull away slightly, but keep our foreheads intact. "Zack," I whisper, my voice not able to go any louder while I try to catch my breath. "Sorry," he whispers too. "It's okay," I reassure him.

I move my head from his and rest it on his shoulder. I wished I could just rest there that the calming peace would never end. This wish is granted for about five minutes until that question comes back up.

"Do you trust me now?" he asked. "Yeah," I breathe out, "But I think you should sit down first." "Okay Cloud, come on," he says tugging at my hand. We sit down on the couch. "Okay so...," I take his hand in mine again and say, "I'm a vampyre. Now before you say anything please let me explain."

He only nods his head and looks down at our intertwined hands. Oh no, I hope he wasn't rethinking that kiss, or even worse our friendship. Nonetheless I take a deep breath and start to explain.

AN: Ha! There it is the first kiss! So how will Zack handle this information? Will he breakup with Cloud and stay friends with him? Will he cut him out of his life permanently? Oh if only they knew what was ahead of them! So I've been getting a lot of chapters done lately because I've had my school closed a few days because ice. Unfortunately, school resumes tomorrow and they'll only be weekly after this. So... Review! Review! Review! XD


	4. Explaining

Ch. 3 Zack's P.O.V.

Cloud was a vampyre. He had just got done explaining everything to me and was now watching my face closely. I couldn't possibly imagine what my face must have looked like at the moment, nor did I care. I was having too hard a time to not start rocking back and forth like a little kid.

"Zack?" he asked. My eyes snapped up to his. His eyes were showing genuine worry for me. For that I was grateful.

"It's... a l-lot.. to t-take in," I stutter. My gaze shifting back to the floor, no longer able to hold his gaze. "I know Zack. I know," he repeated. His thumb started to rub my palm. At this point it was the only physical contact we had as well as the thing keeping me sane right now.

"I-it's true r-right? Your not just t-trying to-" "Zack," he cut me off, "would it help if I show you my mark that I was talking about?"

I didn't really need anymore proof at this point or maybe I was just trying to humor myself, but nonetheless I still nodded my head.

He sighed. I looked up again at him and saw that he had closed his eyes. I started to lift up my head, curious as to what was going to happen. After a few seconds nothing had happened. I was just about to speak up when his face started to glow. Then there was a flash. So bright it was to the point where I had to close my eyes.

When I opened them I was greeted by a beautiful sight. There was a black crescent moon on his forehead with five small black dots surrounding the inside curve of it. To the both sides of the crescent was a leafy, vine pattern with lots of swirls. They were almost symmetrical, if you would have flipped the page the other way.

On his cheek bones there were more leafy, vine designs like the ones on his for head just stopping under his eyes.

Not only were the tattoos amazing, his skin, although still pale, appeared to glow softly. His hair now looked even softer if that is even possible. And his eyes, oh his eyes, they were no longer a pale blue green like before, they were bright sapphire blue.

"Your beautiful," I say without thinking. He smiles. I look at his teeth to see that he wasn't lying when he said that he didn't have gigantic fangs. They looked like normal teenager ones. Just slightly more sharp than normal, but if you didn't know what you were really looking for you wouldn't even notice it.

"Thanks," he says. Then he closes his eyes and slowly his marks start to fade one by one, until he looks like he did before.

"So your not scared?" he asked me. "No," I say, "I was shocked, I'll admit, but not scared of you. Never scared," He smiles again and hugs me. It only takes me a second to respond. I rest my head on top of his and breathe in his scent. I can't quite explain it, but he smells like mountains and a fresh spring.

Does that make any sense? Well, we stay like that for a while not wanting to let go of each other. Then a sound comes to my ears. It's almost like a soft humming. Then I realize it's Cloud softly snoring. He must have fell asleep.

I smile at that and lie us down, not breaking the embrace and kiss his on his forehead. Then drift off to the realm of dreams also, involving a certain blond, me, and a meadow.

I awake to the same sound of soft snoring.I smiled inwardly at. Then I felt something tickling my chin. Curious, I opened my eyes to see spiky blond hair. I tilted my head down to get a better look.

Cloud was so cute. He had his right hand curled under his chin, while the other was gripping the material of my shirt like he wanted to make sure that I wasn't going anywhere overnight.

Wait, overnight? Wasn't it morning when we fell asleep? I craned my neck over Cloud's head to try to get a good look at the clock. It was three... damn, was that the second hand or the minute hand I couldn't tell from here. Well, either way it was three something.

Seeing no reason to get up yet I decided to take this as a time to muse over my thoughts. I mean what exactly were we? We were friends I knew that much, but were we more then that?

Sure I had kissed him in the kitchen and he had kissed back, but I don't recall us ever elaborating on what we were. Guess I'll just have to ask him when he gets up. I waited just lying there, running my fingers through his soft spikes.

About ten minutes later he was stirring. I tilted my head down to watch the sight of him waking up. He was like a kitten. He was stretching, yawning, but he didn't wake up like I thought he would. He just nuzzled his head against my neck and fell deeper into sleep.

I smiled and looked at the clock again. I had finally figured out which hand was which so it was four fifteen in the afternoon.

Cloud was snoring again, not in the loud annoying way, more like the cute way. Look I'm not good at explaining things so your just gonna have to bear with me. I'm a soldier not a language teacher.

Anyways, since we had already slept most of the day away I figured it wouldn't hurt to let him sleep for another half hour or so.

After awhile it was five. He looked so peaceful I almost didn't want to wake him up, but pushed the thought aside and gently started shaking his shoulder.

"Cloud. C'mon, wake up," I say. He just scrunches up his face and tries to burrow closer into me.

Not giving up I keep trying to coax him awake. "Mmm... Five more minutes... Zack," was his sleepy reply. Although I'm not sure whether the Zack comment was part of his pleading or maybe his dream. I smiled at the thought of him dreaming of me. He must really like me.

Bringing me back to the query of does he like me as a friend or more? Oh Gaia, I wish I knew. With new found determination, I started to shake his shoulder a little rougher than before.

Finally giving up on his chance of more sleep his eyes fluttered open. "What is it Zack?" he said, seeming awake, but saw his eyelids drooping.

"Oh no you don't. Your staying awake and we're going to talk," I tease and keep shaking his shoulder. "Ugh, do I have to?" he whines like a four year old.

I chuckled and said, "Yes." He groaned, but finally gave up. "Fine." he muttered, "So what did you want to talk about?"

Oh, now that he actually asked I wasn't quite sure how to bring the subject up. I should probably just come out and ask before I chicken out. Well... there could always be the possibility that- Ah hell, I'm just gonna ask him.

"Well, er... earlier when you were asleep, I was just wondering... what exactly we were now." I say sheepishly.

"What we were now?" he repeated. "Yeah," I confirm.

Now hearing from Cloud's story earlier, I can pretty much guarantee that he wasn't very social. So what he did was a little shocking, but warmed me to the very bottom of my heart.

Maybe it was the beauty of him, or maybe it was his personality, but I knew already in the short time that we had known each other that I really liked him.

He gently grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me towards him until our lips met. It was a chaste kiss, but magical nonetheless. He pulled back and whispered in my ear, "Well, you tell me. What do you want to be?"

I felt that words couldn't describe that moment so I pulled him in for another kiss much less chaste this time.

I wrapped my arms around his waist as his went around my neck, deepening the kiss. Knowing what caused him to break their kiss last time, I watched my movements with caution, but no less passion.

Minutes later when we were both out of breath, but still reluctant, we broke apart. We lay there panting, with Cloud's head on my shoulder with mine on top of his. One of our hands at our sides the other ones intertwined.

We just lay there, staring into each others eyes. To me it seemed like a perfect time to say, "I'm so glad that we met each other."

He looks up at me with surprise written all over his face. Then it softens a bit and he replies, "I really glad that I met you too Zack."

He gives me a kiss on the cheek and nuzzles into my chest. I sigh. "You know I think we just created a habit of falling asleep with each other, especially on this couch."

He laughs. "Well, I don't mind too much." After that he just burrows closer into me. My stomach growls, but I don't think he noticed.

I just remember that we haven't eaten anything all day. Maybe Cloud was hungry. Well, now that I recall he never showed any signs of hunger. It may be strage, but whether he was hungry or not I was hungry.

"Hey Cloud, before you fall asleep, are you hungry?" I ask. He shakes his head and says, "Not as much as I am tired."

Aww, he was so cute, but I haven't seen him eat anything in quite awhile. I'll just get him to eat a bit before he goes back to sleep for the umpteenth.

"No can do Spiky. I want to see you eat something first. When was the last time you ate?" I tease. His face scrunches up in concentration. This worries me. When _'was'_ the last time he ate?

A few more minutes passed by before I even got a answer. "Well that depends on what type of food your talking about." he said softly.

Huh? What does he mean by what type- Oh yeah... How could I have forgotten that! "Um...," I was kinda at a loss of words here, "the.. uh.. the one type?" I ask. He laughs at my nervousness.

"Hm, I don't know what _'the one type' _is so I'll just tell you both. I think the last time I had human food was yesterday at lunch. And... blood... hm... I think maybe a year and a half, two years," he said like it was nothing.

_Two Years!_ Damn! How could he starve himself for so long? Hell, I couldn't go more than six hours without food.

"How long can you guys go without um..." I trailed off obviously uncomfortable with this conversation. At the same time though, I really was curious.

"Blood?" he filled in for me.

"Yeah," I said kinda sheepishly. "Well, lets see. If your a fledgling you can go about a month maybe two. And if your a vampyre about a year." he explained.

"A year? Then why-" "They want us to feed at least once a year so that we don't go crazy with blood thirst." he cut me off before I could even ask.

"How come you haven't?" I kept questioning. I put an arm around him when I heard him sigh.

"Well, that's kinda the tricky part. Do you remember me talking about imprinting?" he asked. I pondered for a moment before I could remember."Yeah, it's those people that vampyres get tied to right?"

"Good! But I don't think I told you how." he said. "Can you explain?" I asked. "I'll try," he took a long breath, "The reason I don't drink blood is because I don't want to accidentally imprint on someone. They advise us to make sure that they aren't some random person off the street because if either person on either part of the imprint break it, the broken imprint puts the other in immense pain. I didn't have anyone close to me outside of family and I refuse to feed from my own family."

So because Cloud didn't have anyone he had been starving himself. Well, at least he had me now. Wait! He _did_ have me now. Then couldn't he...

"Hey, Cloud-" I started. "Don't you even dare ask me to feed from you." he said in the most pain filled tone I had heard from him yet.

"But Cloud, even you said that imprinting doesn't happen every time. So please. I don't care if we do imprint because think about it we are already together."

When he sighed I continued, "C'mon Cloud I don't want to se you starve yourself." He shook his head. "But Zack if the imprint breaks-" I didn't give him the chance to finish, "I don't care. The pain's not permanent."

He smiles and kisses me on the lips. "Your amazing, but it's not going to happen tonight," he says. I start to protest, but he continues on. "I just need time to think about it. The answer isn't no, but it isn't yes either."

I take him in my arms and say, "That's good enough for me for now," I peck him on the cheek and watch his eyes close. I start to feel my eyes drooping too. 'Hey,' I think, 'Who needs food?' and fall asleep with my boyfriend by my side.

AN: I really try to make these about a decent size, but they always come out a little on the short side. For those of you that have read my other fanfic. Impossible i'm kinda at a road block so does anyone have any ideas? Anyways... sadly school has resumed. The next ch. Should be out next week. Special thanks to all the people who fav. This. And put it on their alert list. Etc... so yeah please review!


	5. Big Brother

**AN: I know, I know, I'm late don't rub it in! I have a good reason/excuse. I had a report due so by the time I would get my homework done I'd have like five minutes to type. Then the weekend came and we had to meet family for the holidays etc. So... yeah. Anyway on with the show! ( Imaginary curtains roll up. )**

Ch. 4 Cloud's P.O.V.

I wake up peacefully next to Zack in the morning. He has an arm wrapped around me with his other hand in my hair. His head is rested on top of mine. Kind of like a little kid with a toy. I smile at my thoughts. He can be like a child at times, but he knows when to be serious.

I take a deep breath then stop when a sweet smell reaches my nose. I would know that smell anywhere. _Blood. _It was not helping my situation to be right next to his neck either. I tried to focus on another smell like on the night I came here, but there was no other smell but his. It was Zack's apartment it was full of his scent.

It was like he was trying to run away on a treadmill. No matter how far he tried to run, the scent would still be there, following him.

It was beginning to become overwhelming. Then I felt my control slip. I tried to recover, but it was too late. I was already leaning in for his neck. The mark of what I truly was covering my face at the moment. My mark, physical changes, teeth sharpened to a good point. (It's still not very noticeable to the human eye though.)

My teeth were just about to pierce his neck when he stirred. Startled, I snapped back into my original form. He mumbled something about paperwork and how it was pointless. I realized he was very innocent. Much more then me and I was about to drink from him.

I felt waves of guilt wash over me. He _was_ innocent. He didn't deserve to be with a person like me. A vampyre.

Under normal situations, I would have left, but I knew that he liked me and didn't want to hurt him more.

I sat and pondered for a moment about my options. In the end I knew that I would just need to watch myself closer. I knew it was selfish, but I liked him too.

So it was just decided I just needed to watch myself. Zack was still asleep so I looked around him to see the clock. 3:00AM. I still have three hours before I should get home and seriously check the mail. I didn't like to leave my family waiting too long for responses and I knew that it was them because they were the only people that would talk to me.

Mentally commanding myself first to wake up in three hours, which was pointless because I had no control over when I could go in and out of consciousness, I laid next to Zack and fell into a light sleep.

Turns out three hours isn't that long because soon I found myself stirring. Which is surprising because it was really eight hours. Reluctantly, I opened my eyes to a bright room. I lied there blinking for a second, waiting for my eyes to adjust.

Then I took time to get everything that had happened this weekend sorted. Let me go over the check list with you.

I got beat up by Jay, and then a 1st class soldier, Zack, took me to his apartment to help me, he kissed me, I told him I was a vampyre, we became official, and he offered me to drink fro him. Call me crazy, but I think I've had a pretty productive weekend.

I felt Zack stirring at my side. When I turn to look at him a question pops into my head, _What do we do from here? _I look back at him. No matter how hard I try to come up with a rational answer I can't. I honestly do not know what to do.

Maybe I just need to clear my head. As much as I really don't want to leave him, I need to come back down to the planet for a while and take on my responsibilities.

With determination I try to find my way out of his grasp. Luckily, his back was to the couch so I wouldn't have to climb over him. Slowly I lifted his arm off of my waist and turned so I was lying on my side away from him. Next, I untangled his fingers from my hair and moved the rest of his arm to the side.

I look back at him to make sure he is still asleep. I'm greeted by a delightful sight. Zack's hair is al tousled and once I removed his arms from me he curled in on himself. He's like a dog almost, I smile at that thought.

Then I remind myself that I'm need to get back to my room.

I'm just about to walk out of the room when I look back at him. My hand on the handle freezes. It really wouldn't be fair to leave him like this. He could take this a million wrong ways. Then a thought hits me, what if he thinks that I broke up with him?

In a haste I went to go write a note, not wanting to disturb him from his rest. I found a notepad on the table and started writing on it. (**AN: It'll say what he wrote in the next chapter.) **

After reading over it a few times I laid it down on the coffee table and walked out the door. Once outside in the halls I took a deep breath I started the walk home.

_**Later:**_

I knocked on the door to my room after realizing that it had fallen out of my pocket while Jay was beating me up. I stood there staring off into space when the door opened.

"Cloud! Man, where have you been? I thought you got kidnapped or something!" Aidou nearly shouted while tugging me into the room and shutting the door. He's my roommate and also very protective of me. At first I dreaded the thought of a roommate and just didn't talk to him, but after awhile he cracked me out of my shell. We are like brothers, as close as me and Roxas.

I would of responded, but he was hugging me so tight I couldn't get the air to tell him anything.

"Ai-dou... Can't brea-the," I choke out. His arms immediately leave me. "Sorry, it's just you didn't come back after training," he said while we sat down, "I though maybe you were just staying late to practice again or something." I give a bitter laugh,"Your half right." He gives me a perplexed look. "What do you mean?"

I give him a knowing look and wait for him to let the thought sink in. I watch his spiky dark brown hair bounce as his head snaps up with realization.

"Is Jay hurting you again?" he says, the anger clear as glass in his voice. "Yep," I say as if it's nothing. "Wait, so he beat you in the training room and none of the instructors noticed?" the anger now being replaced by sadness. He prayed for the day that Jay would get caught.

"Yeah, but I'm fine." I try to reassure him. I see the doubt run across his face. He's more of one of those people that like to see things to make sure they are true, not all the time, but would like it.

He gets up and sits on my bed with me. "Can I just check?" he takes my arms not even waiting for a answer. Most people would have mistaken us for more than friends, but like I said earlier, we are just very protective of each other. He looked over them with very close eyes.

"Aidou, I'm fine, honestly." I tell him in a calm voice. He sighs and looks back down at my arms again. I follow his eyes and see something on his arms.

"Are those cuts?" I ask with alarm. He tries to hide them, but I grab his arms. "It's nothing." he tries to cover. "You know I don't believe that for one second. No tell me, are they by another or self inflicted?" I didn't want to believe that he could of done that to himself, but he had been more depressed the past few days. And you never know.

"It's nothing," he repeated. I'm starting to get irritated because if some one else did this they won't see the daylight ever again after tonight.

"Aidou, you can tell me. Just like I can tell you about me," I try to assure. He looks up, his eyes pleading. "Promise you won't get mad at me?" "Promise," my voice sincere. He takes a deep breath.

"I did it, but I have a reason," he rushed out. I was too shocked to answer so I just nodded my head for him to continue.

He looks down at the floor. I see a crystal tear fall to the floor. "My family... was k-killed last week by a fire," he chokes out. I see more tears fall down his face.

I immediately pull him into a comforting embrace. "Who told you this?" I ask tentatively. Aware that the slightest thing could break him down at the moment.

"M-my neighbor saw the fire.. and wrote a... letter to me," he said pausing every now and then to take shaky breaths. I can tell he's trying not to cry. "You can cry now. It's okay," I first hand know that it's not good to bottle up your emotions. It had given me many thoughts of suicide, but then mom or Roxas would come to my mind and I would never follow out with it. I could never put them through that kind of pain.

Without anymore encouragement he started to cling to my shoulders and let all of his tears stream across his face. He let out a scream into my shoulder that was muffled by the fabric of my shirt.

It broke my heart to see my friend like this. All of his relatives were dead or unknown. The only family he really had was his mom, dad, and sister. But now they were gone. He was a orphan. Had nowhere to go.

Soon I started to feel tears of my own cascade down my face. "C-cloud, where am I going to go? The only home I had is gone."

To be honest I don't know where he is going to go. Then a idea pops into my head. Winter holidays were coming up. Maybe he could move into my house. I mean we are already like brothers. I know Roxas would like him. My mother is always willing to help people. All I would have to do is just... tell him I'm a vampyre.

Well, I don't really see a problem. If Zack could handle it and only know me for a few days, I'm pretty sure that Aidou could. I could just ask him about it now and if he says yes I'll go from there, but I won't tell him now. I just don't think that he could handle the drama.

Don't get me wrong I was eventually gonna tell him anyway, but if he does decide to come with me on winter break the date of that's gonna be moved up a bit. Just take it slow I chant in my head.

"Aidou. If you don't have anywhere to go... maybe you could stay with me and my family," I ask.

He pulls back from the embrace a little bit to look me in the eye. "What?" he asks clearly confused. "Why don't you move in with me? I know that my brother would like you and mom likes helping people." I see the confusion fall from his face immediately and is replaced by pure joy. "Really? Thank you Cloud!" he says while pulling me back into a tight embrace.

I laugh and say, "Anything for my best friend." I felt my shoulder even become more soaked as tears of happiness fell on them.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." he kept repeating. I laugh, "It's okay. Think we'll be like real brothers, living in the same home!" he just nods his head against my shoulder. I hear him stifle a yawn.

I just let him fall asleep on my shoulders and rub his back. He's had a emotionally traumatic day.

Soon I hear his breathing even out and know he is asleep. I look down at him. He looks so peaceful compared to earlier. It's still hard to think he had his life ripped away from him so quickly. Like a flash of lightning. Everything is fine and then a second later it's gone up in flames.

I sigh and pick him up to carry him to his own bed. As soon as I pull the covers over him he starts to stir. I freeze and try to not make any noise. "Cloud...," he mumbles, "please don't leave." I see his hand try to find mine.

Right now to comfort him is the least I can do. I take his hand and he smiles. He scoots over in the bed to make room for me. I laugh and get into the bed with him, pulling up the dull green blankets with my other hand. We lay there holding hands not the intimate way like I was with Zack, but more of a comforting way to tell him that I'm there.

This, what we're doing now reminds me of how I used to comfort Roxas during thunder storms.

_**Flashback:**_

_"Cloud, why does the sun leave us to the thunder?" Roxas asked me in a tiny voice. I look down at him snuggled up in my bed with me, looking up at me with big blue eyes. _

_ I ruffle his hair. "Well, Roxas," I pause to make sure he's paying attention. Once I'm sure he's listening I continue, "I think that the sun never really leaves dark clouds may bring us down, but remember the sun is always behind them waiting to shine us with the light." He smiles, "You should be a poet." I laugh at his admiration. "I'm not that good," I know I'm being modest. After being told a million times you start to believe it. Especially if half of those is from my brother._

_ He nuzzles into my chest and says, "Well I think you are." Soon he falls asleep. I just rub his back and coo for him to calm down when ever the thunder cracked._

_** End of Flashback:**_

__those were the easy times. Before any of the vampyre stuff had gotten in the way. They were still very close, but when he had to leave for a few weeks for the P.E.C.P. Roxas literally threw a fit. He tried to hide in my suite case, the bus, and tried to sneak out to go there himself.

Eventually I had to explain to him that I wasn't leaving and that it was only temporary. He seemed to calm down after that, but he made me swear to call him every night so he could make sure that I was alright. Of course that was before I joined Shinra. If you think he threw a fit then, well... you haven't seen _anything_ yet, but that story's for a another day.

That's reminds me I still need to go read that letter. I look back down at my roommate and decide to wait a few more minutes to make sure he's asleep.

After I'm sure I slip out of the room and into the hall. The only thing going threw my mind at the moment is _'Get the mail. Get the mail. Get the mail.'_

In fact I was so focussed on getting to the mail that I didn't see the dark figure lurking in the corner. Nor did I see the glint of the knife in their hand.

**AN: Ohhhhhh... what's gonna happen to Cloud? Who's the figure? So many questions! But yeah, in this chapter we get to see the more brotherly side of Cloud. Isn't he the best big brother ever? So yeah I predict the next chapter will come out next week or the next week and a half. Depends on my schedule. So anyway _Please Review!_**


	6. Attacked

**AN: Dammit! I'm going to try to get these on time from now on!... I hope... just kidding! Thank you for the lovely reviews! From now the story is really gonna start picking up. I'm not quite sure how long it's gonna be. I don't know what it is. Has anyone else ever had a chapter planned out and then you start typing it and then your hands start typing a whole different thing? It can be annoying, but hey, it's what gets our stories done. Okay I'm gonna shut up now and give you the story! XD**

Ch. 5 Zack's P.O.V.

I awake peacefully until I notice the dearth of a warm body next to me. Out of curiosity I crack open one eye. When I'm greeted by no small frame or blond hair I open the other eye.

In fact I'm the only one on the leather couch. Or in the whole room for that fact.

"Cloud?" I call out, but the sound just rings throughout the empty apartment. A little more then worried now, I get up.

I kept searching and when I found nothing my hope would just make my stomach drop more. With one last shred of false hope I looked into the kitchen to again, find nothing.

I sighed and leaned my elbows on the counter, rubbing my temples. "Why did you leave?" I ask the thin air. I turn my head to look over the apartment. Then a bright yellow piece of paper catches my eyes.

I stop my scanning and zero in on the piece of paper stuck to the door. I knew it was from Cloud. No one else had been inside my apartment at the time and no one else had the keys.

Something burns inside me like excitement, but mixed with fear. What if he had broke up with me? My heart cracks a bit at the thought.

_'Stop it!'_ I mentally yell at myself. My mind is just trying to imagine the worst. I shake my head and slowly walk over to the small piece of paper, afraid one wrong move and the whole universe would fall apart. How could piece of paper bring so much fear?

With trembling hands I grasp the paper. Hesitating before I pull it off, I reassure myself that I'm just overreacting. The sound of the paper coming off of the door sends chills of discomfort down my spine. I try to stop the shaking in my hands so I can read the paper properly.

_Zack,_

_ I have a feeling that your probably freaking out on the inside as you read this, but I'm fine. I promise. I just had to go check up with my roommate to make sure he didn't go insane and to get the mail. If you ever want to talk you can just come to this room- 456B._

_ Cloud._

I let out a breath that I hadn't realized that I had been holding. He still liked me. He just had to go get the mail. I wasn't trying to be one of those people that have to know where you are every second of everyday, but it's not very comforting to wake up and see the person you fell asleep next to gone.

Mail. Why does that ring a bell? _'Mail, mail, mail...'_ I kept heads snapped up in realization with my eyes glowing like a light bulb with mako.

That's right Sephiroth told me to keep an eye out for my mission review. It was in Kalm, and also my first time instructing the group and not being the group.

To Zack it had gone very well. Of course it didn't matter what _you_ thought. Just the heads of ShinRa instructing classes.

But anyway, he should probably go get the mail. _'Maybe I'll see Cloud there...' _he thought excitedly. Well, maybe, but he probably wrote this hours ago. So his chances were very low.

None the less he needed to get his ass down there, read the report, right a report on the report about why he thought he was given what he had on the report, then turn it in to Sephiroth's desk by eight o'clock tomorrow on Monday or else Sephiroth would probably try to strangle him. Scratch that, he _would_ strangle him.

You see Zack was always late with his paper work so Sephiroth was always delayed too. It really annoyed the older man because he had an image to keep up and Zack was supposedly ruining it.

Sighing Zack grabbed his keys off the counter and waltzed out of the apartment. While looking at the walls moving behind him, he heard a shrill scream.

Alarmed his head turned toward the mail center. Fear coursed through him like lava, but not for him, for the helpless person on the other side of the closed door.

He wondered why no one else in their rooms had come out, considering he was all the way down the hallway, and the sound was still loud enough for him to want to cover his ears.

Pushing the thought aside, he raced down the hall toward the closed door that was about to reveal something he wished he wouldn't ever want to see.

He yanked on the handle. Locked, of course. With frustration he ripped off the handle and busted through the room.

As soon as the door slammed against the wall he stopped cold in his tracks. Before him was a hooded figure surrounded by blood of another, with a knife shining with crimson blood dripping from the point. With horror he looked down at the body that was the source of all the ruby liquid. Blond hair, blue eyes, or more importantly Cloud.

He was curled in on himself as if he was trying to shrink into nothingness. Zack realized that he was probably stabbed in the stomach. His horror turned into pure fear as Cloud started to make blood curdling coughs. As if his lungs were filing with his life blood, choking him.

Suddenly in almost in an instant, his fear turned into anger."WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING!" I yelled with the most rage he had felt in years.

The attacker tensed in fear, but soon raised his bloody knife. "Get out of the way," the masked figure tried to sound menacing, but Zack could hear the flicker of fear in his voice. He knew the the attacker knew he was a first class. And his chances of beating him were very slim, almost nothing.

In a flash Zack had the guy knocked out cold with a swift roundhouse kick to the head. Grabbing the chains that were used for keeping nosy people out of the mail office, he tied the guys hands together almost to the point of loss of circulation.

Next he felt the anger and blood lust leaving his body as his eyes settled upon the crumpled Cloud on the ground, still coughing up the ruby red blood. "Cloud!" I said while skidding to a stop by his side on my knees.

Z-za... ck?" he croaked, trying to sit up, but failing miserably for as he just thudded back down onto the cold tile.

"Don't move. You'll just disturb the wound more," I said trying to keep the tears at the bay. Oh, why hadn't he payed more attention in medical class? He could call the medics on his phone or he could take cloud to the infirmary. Which one would take less time? Well, first hand, the medics would have to get here then take him back. That's twice the time it would take Zack just to run him there. It was decided he would run Cloud there.

He started to slide his hands under Cloud's slightly limp body when a cold hand rested on his forearm. "Don't take m-me to the... infirmary. Please if-" he paused to cough up another scary amount of blood onto the ground. I felt his hand lose some of his grip on my arm when he finished coughing. More worried I tried to keep him talking, "If?..."

"If you do... they'll find out... r-remem...ber?" his voice becoming even more faint the more he used it. Cloud's eyes started to flutter close so I shook his shoulder a little.

"Where do I take you?" he asked trying to keep the conversation going or more importantly help keep Cloud conscious. His lips moved around for a moment making no noise until he tried again. "B-back.. to your apartment. T-the bleeding... j-just needs to be stopped. I can help you... from there."

He tried to slip his eyes closed again, but I shook his shoulder a little more forcefully. "Okay, but on one condition, you have to stay conscious."

"I'll try, but I can't guarantee..." he trailed off hoping I could fill in the rest. I did. Slowly I moved my hands under his body again and lifted him up into my arms bridal style. He got his hands around my neck, but as soon as I started running they fell back onto his chest as if they were rubber.

I was running like Shiva was right behind me. Nothing compared to how Cloud was running the other day, but fast for me.

Busting through door to the apartment, I threw my keys Shiva knows where, and lightly placed Cloud on the couch.

_'T-the bleeding... j-just needs to be stopped. I can help you... from there.'_ Cloud's faint words echoed in his head as he rushed through his apartment to find the first aid kit. Suddenly he remembered that it was still lying on the counter from the night before, unused, unneeded.

_Unneeded._ That was it! Shouldn't he be able to heal himself? Although this new information was exciting he tried to keep it small incase it wasn't helpful.

Grabbing the first aid, he rushed back by Cloud's side. Cloud's eyes kept going open and closed as he was fighting the battle of consciousness. He was failing though as each time they fell closed it took him even longer to open them. Cloud's words echoed in my head again.

I started to slightly lift him so I could get the bottom of the bandage under his back. I stopped when he groaned, but his head just lolled to the side. Next I dabbed at his wounds. Once I was sure that I had slowed the bleeding I rapped the rest of the bandages around. It was almost immediately after that though the blood started to seep through at an alarming rate.

"Cloud," when he just shook his head and tried to slip them closed I continued, "C'mon. You said that I if could stop the bleeding you would take it from there. How are you going to do that?"

His eyes slowly slipped open to reveal confused and almost unseeing eyes. I watched them wander around the room a bit in circles until they finally settled on me. "Do... what?" he whispers so quietly if it wasn't for the mako in me I wouldn't have heard him.

"Heal yourself, do the magic thingy, like you did that one night, anything!" I was desperate now. The blood was now seeping into the sofa, but I could care less about stains right now. If anything I want that blood inside his body like mine was in my body.

Cloud licked his lips and started to whisper again. "I thought that... by now... the healing would have... taken effect. H-how... bad is it?" This time I had to lean down to his mouth to hear what he was saying.

"Well, it's seeping into the couch," I said. He frowned and tried to look down, but only got a fraction of a centimeter before he screamed in pain. Or should I say tried to scream, his voice cracked after a short second. He slumped back lifelessly to the soaked couch breathing heavily.

Then suddenly it was like the world slowed down, almost stopping. Every flying piece of my scrambled thoughts fit together, and gave me the one idea I needed the most. Cloud wasn't healing because he was loosing too much blood. He was a vampyre, he drinks blood to survive. He hasn't had blood in two years. He was dying. Or more importantly he needed to drink blood.

Now there was only one obstical left, getting him to drink from me. Judging from Saturday night it was going to be hard, but I had to try.

"Cloud, I know how to help you," I started. He looked at my face for a few seconds before realization dawned on his face. "No," he said with the more finality I had thought him capable of in this state.

He looked like he was about to continue so I knew it was time to take charge. "No you listen to me. I know you don't want to drink from anyone and I'm willing to respect that, but if it's to the point where you are going to die you are going to like it or not. Okay?" At this point Cloud looked like he was about to cry. He must really be against this.

He took a shaky breath and whispered again, "Okay." I sighed in relief, I thought this was going to take a lot more work than this.

"So... um... how does this work?" I was at a loss. "Just... put your neck by my mouth. I can... do the rest." Obeying I leaned down. "Now... before I do this... you need to tell me if it's... too much... okay?" "Okay," I reply.

Slowly he rested his hand around my neck and the other around my waist. He lifted his head and I felt something wet on my neck. I realized it was his tongue. Why was he... licking my neck? I thought you just bite it, like in the movies. Maybe he was checking for a pulse?

Then suddenly I felt his teeth plunge into my neck. I'll admit it hurt at first, but I held in the gasp of pain in fear that he might stop. Cloud wasn't kidding when he said this would really hurt. I thought he was just talking about him biting me, but I realized it was beyond that. It felt like the life was being sucked out of me at a very slow rate.

I could feel myself getting light headed lightheaded at the drainage and the gulping sounds coming from my neck that had my blood dripping down it.

Then I felt it, the gigantic waves of peace and content. I gasped at the pleasure of it. Apparently, Cloud must of heard it because I felt him start to pull away, but I rested my hand on his head and gently pushed him back down.

"I'm fine. Don't stop. Please keep going." I begged. At this point I guiltily admit that I wasn't sure whether I was afraid of Cloud not getting enough or the loss of the peace.

Not needing anymore motivation, Cloud took up where he left off. I sighed as the peace came back at the same time that Cloud moaned from thetaste.

It went on for a few minutes before Cloud pulled away. I whimpered at the loss of the feeling as reality came back to my mind, but I knew it was probably best that he did stop before he took too much.

Finally, I got enough sense to check his wounds to see if they healed. I was happily greeted by a faint pink line. "Cloud," I whispered.

He was resting on my chest with his eyes closed from content this time though instead of a battle of consciousness. "What?" he murmured.

"Your wounds healed," I explain. "They better have. I've never felt so goon in my life." he muttered.

He yawns and curls up even more on my chest. I laugh, "Tired?" He just nods his head and snuggles closer until his head shoots up unexpectedly. "How could I forget?" he nearly shouts.

"Forget what?" I ask in alarm. He looks at me and grabs my head. "Let me see your neck." I crane my neck to give him a better view of whatever he might be looking for. It must be important if he was freaking out this much.

"What is it?" I ask tentatively. "Oh no," he whispers. He lets got of my chin and grabs his head. "Oh no. Oh no. Oh no." he kept repeating while shaking his head as if that could get the thought out of his mind.

"Cloud! What is it?" I say even more scared now from the sudden change of what was once a calm peace to fear.

He looks up at me with the most terrified eyes I've seen him use in the short time I've known him. He looks straight into my eyes and says the to words that would change my life forever from here. "We're imprinted."

**AN: Oh! Didn't see that coming did ya? But you have to give Cloud some slack, I mean he's never been exposed to this before. So it's really all new. But yeah. Anyway I've finally figured out how long it takes to do an update. Two weeks! If it's any longer than I must have had a lot of free time. So please Review! XD**


	7. Why Me

** AN: OMG! I could not get this thing updated for two reasons... 1. Fanfiction wouldn't let me upload. (that's right folks i had a chapter in my document manager the whole time and couldn't even upload it. But! thanks to this amazing author xXkey of destinyXx she told me how to get around it. She also has a Story called _In Love With A Vampire_. If you go to my favorites you'll find it kinda towards the top. 2. I kept writing this then rewriting it, but none of it ever fit so I just stuck with this. Hope it's not too awful. Anyway, thank you. I really appreciate the reviews I got for the last one! Very inspirational because that week I swear it was my math teachers soul purpose in life to give me as much homework as possible. I'm surprised I even got the chapter out when I did, but I did it somehow. So on with the story!**

Ch. 6 Cloud's P.O.V.

How could I have been so stupid? I should have knew that this was going to happen, but now because of my stupidity me and Zack were imprinted. This is terrible! The once content in my head turned into regret. I felt so much grief start to pile on my shoulders that I thought I might pass out, but I knew as soon as I would my unconsciousness would turn the gift into a curse with again another nightmare.

_ 'Oh Nyx, what should I do?' _I asked her. **(AN: Nyx is the Greek mythology goddess of night. A.K.A. the vampyres goddess. Also from the book I was taking about earlier.)**

_'What does your heart want you to do child?' _She whispered back in her comforting voice to me. Why must she always speak in riddles? _'Because she gave her children free will,' _I grumbled to myself in side my head. We learned in class she said to make the choices for us would turn us to puppets and that she wanted us to make our own lives.

What does my heart want me to do? What kind of a question was that? I was just imprinted to none other than Zack Fair himself. Of course _'my heart' _would want me to stay with Zack, but my mind was telling me different. That this would cause too many problems, questions, stress.

And it's not like I can just break it off either. I couldn't do that to Zack. Believe me I've seen an imprint break and it's so bad that you would think that they were dying.

The screaming, thrashing, desperateness to end all the pain once and for all. All of their past fear for death turned into want. It's a heartbreaking sight to see, but they do this to encourage us to be careful with our feeding.

They do eventually get better, but it can last up to an hour. Fortunately, for us we only have to watch a minute, but those sixty seconds felt like an eternity. So I couldn't even imagine what almost an hour would feel like to Zack.

_Zack._ I looked back up at him as I realized he had been quiet throughout my twisted conversation in my screaming mind.

His once tan skin seemed to have paled, his eyes just said _'What?'_ all over them. Even his spiky raven hair now seemed to droop a little. We just sat there and stared at each other unsure of what to say. That is if either one of us could even speak. I could see many emotions on his face, but one stuck with me the most, regret.

It was almost as clear as the shock on his face. Though I couldn't really blame him. We just got tied to each other in the strongest mental way possible. We might as well of been married because it's almost the same if you think about it.

You beak the imprint you go through pain. You get divorced you have to sign a lot of paperwork , who gets the kids if you have some, who gets the house, etc. You guys get the point.

"I'm sorry," I whisper. I keep my gaze to the floor just so I don't have to see his reaction.

"What for?" he asks.

"It's obvious your sad,"

"No I'm not,"

"Confused,"

"No I'm not,"

"Scared,"

"Cloud, I'm fine,"

Now that pissed me off. He was _fine_. He doesn't honestly believe I would take that would he? I may be a cadet, but that does not make me an idiot.

"Your _fine_?" I asked allowing some of the anger I had to slip through. "Don't even think I would believe that for one second because it's obvious your not fine."

"How would you know?" he retorted getting angry to, "Just one look at me and you know everything?"

"It's in your eyes." I say as I grit my teeth, finally meeting his gaze of burning lavender with my smoldering sapphire.

"Why are you trying so hard to figure everyone else out when you don't even know yourself?" he kept pushing.

"Why are you suddenly so angry at me?" I could feel myself losing it with every stupid word that kept coming out of his mouth laced with anger.

Apparently he had had enough too because then he just exploded at me, "BECAUSE WE'RE IMPRINTED!"

That had caught me by surprise. I felt my heart crack a little. Whether it was from the imprint or my real feelings I couldn't tell, but I just knew that I wanted out of there. I got up in my now blood crusted clothes and said, "You and I both know that it takes two people to do what we just did."

As I walked from the couch to the door I could feel my eyes brimming with tears, but I had to hold them in check. At least until I got out of here.

"Cloud-" he began, but I cut him off. "If you didn't want to be imprinted... then why did you save me?" And with that I left not even waiting for an answer. I quietly shut the door and started to walk back to my room.

When I got in the elevator I finally let the tears fall. The heartbreak had finally got to me. Or at least causing the sadness of my imprint. All I could think was _'How could he say that?'_ and _'It's probably for the best anyway. If he wanted me then he would of came after me. Fought for me.'_ But that's just the thing isn't it? He didn't come rushing out of his apartment and say he was sorry and that he wanted me back. He wasn't confessing to me in the hall by his door.

Instead he was probably just sitting there with relief that I had finally gone. Well, at least I could do this much for him. Just stay away. Bury myself in my training and work.

I mentally slap myself. You need to get over it I yell in my head. He's not sobbing over it and neither should you. What did you expect from someone you had only known a day. Or worse why did I tell him anything?

I should have waited a little bit longer before I told him, but then again I was kind of pressured into it. But Aidou was my best friend. He would never do anything like that. Not to mention he was going through a tough time right now due to his family loss.

_Family._ The letter! Dammit! I _still_ needed to read it. Hurrying so I could get out of there as fast as possible I grabbed the letter and ran back to my room.

I feel a tingle of guilt once again when I see my roommates arm slung over the part of the bed I was once on. With a sigh, I change and get back into his bed. As soon as I lay down his arm wraps around my waist and he lays his head on my chest with a content sigh.

Just so you don't forget we are_ just_ friends, almost brothers. Nothing else. You'd be surprised how many people accused us of dating and as soon as we got back to our room we started laughing uncontrollably.

Okay, Okay, back to the letter. With one hand I open it while the other one is occupied rubbing Aidou's back. With anxious eyes I read the long awaited letter.

_Dear Cloud,_

_ Oh we miss you so much! The Winter Holidays are coming up soon and Roxas won't stop talking about it. I hope you haven't forgot how to ride that horse of yours in the barn because he desperately wants to ride his with you. He doesn't even need help to get on it anymore. Oh, you two are growing up so fast. But enough about us. I hope your okay. Write back soon._

_ Sincerely,_

_ Mom_

That was the first part. Mom and Roxas always wrote separately because his brother simply had too much to say or most of the time it didn't even go with what his mother was talking about. Shaking his head at the thoughts of his brother's past letters he started reading.

_Hi Cloud!_

_ Guess what? I'm just gonna imagine you said what. I can get on my horse now! We can ride like you and Mom did when she was teaching you! We can go to the lake, the woods,the back of the town, that little waterfall, or maybe even that cave you found! That will be so much fun. It's sucks that they don't let you get phone calls here! I have so much to say, but this paper is running out of room. Write back soon please!_

_ From Your Favorite Brother, _

_ Roxas._

Typical Roxas. Overuses exclamation points, and never knows when to stop a sentence. And my brother.

While searching for a pencil and paper my eyes land on the alarm clock and am shocked to find out that it is 1:46AM. Well... one more day couldn't hurt right?

Not even bothering to answer my own question I lay back down after putting the letter back on my dresser. With what seemed like the millionth time I sighed.

I turned over to look at my roommate. Studying his facial features and noting how much they changed since his mental meltdown to now. His shirt was wrinkled and he had tear tracks all over his now dry face.

I lifted my hand to slightly ruffle his hair. This action caused him to stir. "Mm... Cloud?" I removed my hand and replied, "Right here," He lifts his head from it's position on my chest to look me in the eyes. "What time is it?" he still mumbled. I shift to look at the clock. "2:13. It's okay you can go back to sleep."

He squints his eyes at me and studies my face for a moment. "What happened?" he asks. I give him a confused look and say, "What do you mean?"

His eyes just fill with more doubt. "Don't play stupid with me. Now tell me." "No seriously, tell you what?" now I'm really confused.

He gave me a stern look and explained, "You come back after _two days_ in blood soaked clothes. Then you leave _again_ and I wake up to see you looking really depressed and stressed. **(Eh,... I really am not a fan of rhyming, but it couldn't be helped.) **So don't even try to pretend everything is okay."

Oh... so _that's_ what he meant. I give him a pleading look, "Aidou..." I trail off, but he picks up before I can think of words to say. "Cloud, when did you stop telling me things?"

Now that cracked my heart a bit, but I just _couldn't_. I need more time. My mom hadn't even given the okay yet. Let alone had I sent the letter asking for permission! Think Cloud, Think!

"Aidou, can you... just give me until tomorrow. After training. Then I'll explain everything to you." I looked him in the eye when I told him this so that he would have no reason to doubt me.

He gave me that hesitant and doubtful look, but soon closed his eyes and let out a exasperated breath. "Fine. _Tomorrow._ Then I want to know what your hiding." I gulp and reply a shaky "Okay." I turn to get out of the bed when his hand on my shoulder stops me.

"Look. I know I got irritated at you, but... you can still stay here if you want." I give a silent nod and go back to our original position. He takes my hand again and falls asleep quicker than I thought possible. _'I'll... just... I need to sleep on it," _I decide before falling into sleep beside my roommate.

**AN: Uh... I'm not quite sure what I wanna say... hehe..., but it's better than nothing! **_**I hope...**_** But I tried my best, it's just like the top said I couldn't get Zack's reaction just right. So I stuck with this. I had to rewrite it at least 9 times. **

**Zack: The readers are going to kill me...**

**Me: Think positive.**

**Zack: The readers are going to kill me quickly...**

**Me: ...(Speechless)... I don't have a comment on that...**

**So please Review! XD**


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